Full moon fever.



Spent a few minutes watching 20/20 tonight, which was an interesting, if dumbed-down review of Steven Levitt's Freakonomics, which I've wanted to read for a long time (a year), but haven't gotten to yet. From the abstract:

"Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world."


Levitt is a very bright guy who looks at statistics without assuming the same things that we all do. His conclusion that legalized abortion accounts for a significant reduction in crime is provocative, and an interesting idea. I'm sure the argument goes much deeper in the book, and I intend to find out.

Anyway, I was thinking tonight that I'd love to review some good sociological stats on the "Full Moon Effect". Today in Royal Oak, Michigan it was a beautiful spring/summer day, it's Good Friday (a holiday for many), and it's a full moon. We did a lot of garden work, and the FME was obvious.




- Random sidewalk guy singing along with his iPod had a beautiful voice.
- Random girl driving by at 10pm shouted "Hiiiiii!!" out her window to a stranger (me)
- Neighbor who we haven't seen in a couple weeks said "Hi" and told us about the turkey (in his freezer for a year) that was about to be roasted

Hypothesis: People interact with strangers differently/more on Full Moon evenings, and seem to have lowered inhibitions.
Data: Who has anything more than anecdotal?

Posted: Sat - April 15, 2006 at 01:20 AM            

©